1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to containers. More particularly, the invention relates to a container that has an automatically operating bottom structure that moves into a closed position as the box is opened from a folded-flat condition to an erected or expanded condition.
2. Prior Art
Bulk containers made of various materials and in a variety of shapes are used for the shipment and storage of many products, including nuts, meats, produce, resins and other goods. Corrugated cardboard containers, in particular, are popular because of their relatively low cost, light weight and recyclability. Among these, bulk boxes having an octagonal cross-section are in widespread use because of their strength and other desirable attributes.
Corrugated cardboard bulk containers can be shipped in a folded-flat or knocked-down condition and erected into their expanded or opened box shape at the point of use, thereby minimizing shipping and storage costs. However, many of these designs are difficult to manipulate from their flattened condition to their erected condition, and may even require the labor of more than one person to erect.
Some corrugated bulk containers have been designed to facilitate erection of them from a folded-flat condition to their erected, open box shape. These designs include containers with automatically operating bottom structures that automatically close as the box is moved from a folded-flat condition to an erected condition, as exemplified in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,525,466, 4,530,460 and 4,856,705. The container in U.S. Pat. No. 3,525,466 has six sides, and a bridging panel extending across its bottom, formed by adhesively attached panels 26 and 28 extending inwardly across the bottom from respective opposite side walls. The container in U.S. Pat. No. 4,530,460 has four sides, and the bottom closure-forming flaps are folded or tucked inwardly into the box in its folded-flat condition. U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,705 has eight sides, forming an octagonally shaped box, but it also has a bottom bridging panel, formed by panels 65 and 68 extending inwardly across the bottom from respective opposite side walls. Moreover, the four flaps forming the bottom structure in this patent are all tucked inside the box in its folded-flat condition.
Applicant is not aware of any prior octagonal bulk box that may be shipped in a folded-flat condition and erected by a single person at the point of use into an open box shape, wherein the box has an automatically operating bottom closure structure that closes as the box is being moved to its opened or erected condition, and wherein the bottom closure structure is located externally of the box when in its flattened condition, so that it is necessary only to exert force against opposite side edges of the folded-flat box to cause it to move to its opened, erected position and to cause the bottom to move to a closed and locked condition.
The present invention is a container that may be left in a folded-flat condition until it is ready to be used, and then erected by a single person at the point of use into an open box shape, wherein the box has an automatically operating bottom closure structure that closes as the box is being moved to its opened or erected condition, and wherein the bottom closure structure is located externally of the box when in its flattened condition, so that it is necessary only to exert force against opposite side edges of the folded-flat box to cause it to move to its opened, erected position and to cause the bottom to move to a closed and locked condition.
More specifically, the container of the invention is an octagonal bulk box having two opposed side panels and two opposed end panels, joined at opposite side edges by diagonal corner panels. Two major bottom flaps are foldably joined to opposite side panels, and two minor bottom flaps are foldably joined to opposite end panels. Each major bottom flap has a diagonal fold line defining a generally triangular side portion, and the minor bottom flaps are adhesively secured to adjacent ones of the end portions when adjacent side and end panels are folded into overlying relationship to one another. One pair of diagonally opposed corner panels are bisected by longitudinal fold lines that are coplanar with the diagonal fold lines in the major bottom flaps when the box is folded flat.
When the box is opened up from its folded-flat condition by pressing inwardly on opposite side edges of the folded-flat box, the side and end panels expand outwardly, unfolding along the fold lines joining the side and end panels and the diagonal corner panels, and along the fold line bisecting the pair of opposed corner panels and the diagonal fold lines in the major bottom flaps, whereby the bottom flaps automatically position themselves and engage one another to form a closed bottom. Notches on opposed free edges of the major bottom flaps mutually interengage to lock the bottom closed and hold the box in its erected condition.
The bulk box of the invention is of simple and economical construction, and is easy to use by a single person. It requires a minimum of manipulative steps to move it from its folded-flat condition to its opened erected condition, and may be used in conjunction with a pallet.